OCR Text |
Show 442 PROF. HUXLEY ON THE CLASSIFICATION OF BIRDS. [Apr. 11, Fig. 24. J'mx Under view of the skull of Gypogeranus serpentarius; two-thirds the size of nature. From a specimen in the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons. The letters as before. + The basipterygoid processes. In all the other Vultures, Hawks, and Eagles the maxillo-palatines unite with one another and with the largely ossified septum, and there are no basipterygoid processes. These, therefore, are, so far as their cranial characters go, the highest of birds of prey, or those which depart most completely from the embryonic condition. All the Parrots present wonderfully uniform cranial characters. The rostrum is articulated with the frontal bones by a complete hinge-joint. Not only is this the case, but the jugal arches and the palatine bones are moveahly articulated by ligamentous joints with the rostrum. There are no basipterygoid processes. The maxillo-palatines are very large and spongy in texture, and unite with one another and with the ossified nasal septum so as to fill up almost the whole base of the beak. Above, however, a nasal passage is left on each side; and, below, the maxillo-palatines stop short, so that, in the dry skull, a passage, leading into the cavity of the rostrum, is left on each side of the septum. The palatine bones have a highly characteristic figure, being very |